In recent years the sport of hockey has expanded tremendously when adapted to year round play on streets or outdoor or indoor courts wherein the players wear roller skates. The skates worn are either of the conventional two truck side by side skates or the more recently popular in-line wheeled skates. In particular, the in-line wheeled skates provide action for the skater similar to ice skates and it is believed that this similarity has given rise to adaptation of ice hockey with conventional sticks and a similar shaped hockey puck to the ice hockey puck. There are a few significant differences between the ice hockey puck and the street or court puck. The ice hockey puck is a cylinder normally made of a solid piece of rubber-like material weighing in the order of 6 ounces. In use, the ice hockey puck glides across a very slippery surface of a ice rink. With a powerful blow by a skilled player, the ice hockey puck can easily travel the entire length of an ice rink because of the low friction surface on which it rides.
The street or court hockey puck, however, slides on a surface which is distinctly less slick and can encounter pebbles or other discontinuities which interfere with distance and smooth travel. As a result, typical street hockey pucks are significantly lighter in weight than ice hockey pucks, an example, 3 ounces and often have rounded edges with the hope and expectation that the rounded edges will aid in the predictable travel. As a regular street hockey player, I have been less than satisfied with existing pucks. If the puck has a flat surface, even though it is light, the frictional engagement is such that the travel of the puck is limited. If it has sharp edges and a flat surface, there is a tendency for the puck to up-end and roll in an unruly and irksome fashion, causing poor puck behavior and general player consternation. If the edges are curved to minimize the interference with obstructions or defects in the playing surface, the tendency to up-end and roll may be even greater. Various attempts have been made to improve street hockey pucks as are typified by the following patents:
______________________________________ 4,754,973 Kunick, P. July 5, 1988 4,793,769 Dolan, M. December 27, 1988 4,878,668 Nevorol, V. November 7, 1989 ______________________________________